28 March 2013

How many officers would you deploy, if you were in charge of
policing an event where between 300 and 1000 demonstrators were
expected, who, according to the police's own statement, can be
categorised as ''middle-class'' i,
i.e. harmless ? One hundred, perhaps? - remember, you're putting in the
officers in full riot gear, helmets, body armour, metre long
truncheons. That must be enough, that would give you a ratio of one
well-armed, potential combatant to, at the most, every lot of ten
do-gooders. The head of the Hamburg police service, under the direction
of Michael Neumann, Minister for Interior Affairs and Sport, decided to
deploy six hundred and fifty police officers at the official opening of
the IBA – the city's proudest piece of gentrification – in Wilhelmsburg
on Saturday evening. The presence of these six-and-a-half centurias on
that one day has cost the city an estimated €100 000 ii.
A spokeswoman for Hamburg police was unwilling to confirm this
estimate, but also refused to present their version of the costs, even
though the arithmetic involved is simple.